I don’t know how many miles I drove today but it felt like 1,000.  Although you’d never know it from where I started and ended up for the day.  I’ve been zig-zag-ing across GA the past few days trying to gather up everything on my list.  But today, I finally conceded that I’m at least a day behind, possibly two, and have started skipping less important things and those that are just too far away for this trip.  Looks like the beginnings already of next winter’s trip.

Today’s minor mishap:  I went to turn on the radio for one big stretch of highway and — nothing.  The regular radio would turn on but not my Sirius.  Now maybe I sound like a spoiled brat, but once you get used to commercial-free, there’s no going back.  I had to resolve this with all the countless hours of boring interstate ahead on this trip.  Poked around and discovered it wasn’t the receiver or the wire to the cigarette lighter but the actual cigarette lighter outlet itself.  I never heard of one going bad before.  I stopped at a garage to borrow an allen wrench to open up the dash to stretch my wire out far enough to reach another cigarette lighter.  Luckily, Sparkle has three of them which really comes in handy when I’m charging the cell phone, extra camera batteries and the laptop all at the same time.  So, anyway, I’ve got tunes again.

The weather was grey & cloudy all day and fairly chilly.  But at least it didn’t rain as they had predicted.  Tomorrow, I might not get as lucky.  The dogs romped and sniffed in undeveloped land behind gas stations and such.  Perhaps tomorrow, I can get these guys to a FL beach if I hustle. 

This sign is from B n B Tire in Comer, GA.  You can see how miserable grey it was today.

This giant abandoned sign is from Route 1 in Augusta, GA.  I don’t know if the “Cardinal” was a motel or a restaurant or something else.  I had never been to Augusta before which was fun.  Lots of old interesting stuff downtown.  I’ll have to get back there some day to explore it more.

Andy Jordan’s Bicycle Warehouse in Augusta has this neat wall mural…

… and this guy descending the awning.  It does make you tap your brakes as you come down the block — instinctively thinking something bad is about to happen.

A couple more shots from Augusta.  I found this building pretty grand.

and these showcase display windows were incredible.

A couple more signs for you.  While this one isn’t all that pretty — it’s spectacularly massive.  From Sylvania, GA.

And let’s close with this classic “Eat” sign at the Retreat Cafe in Dublin, GA.  Let’s hope they never mess up that historic patina by repainting it.